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Castes System
"Five castes there will be: us, gods of flesh, deserving all creation. You, fellow inhabitants of this world, deserving rulership. The intelligent, capable of thought, deserving citizenship. The useful, the expendable necessities, deserving rights. The parasites, living tools, deserving nothing." '-Formation of the Castes, The Establishment of Dominion (The Ammonite Creed)' The Ammonite Hegemony’s Castes System was one of the cornerstones of Ammonite life. It dealt with not only how society would be stratified, but also how the government would be organized, and where new member-species would be placed on the hierarchy. The castes were supposedly originally laid out by the great physical gods of the Hegemony, the Architeuths. The Castes were set to be numbered at five, of which three would be represented in the Grand Diet of Siluria. The separation was codified based on specifics (resident of Siluria, species) and generalized features (intelligence, usefulness to society). The three included in government were the Silurians, the Intelligentsia, and the Citizenry. Those not included were the Grand Caste, the architeuths who did not participate in Hegemonic affairs, and the Non-Representative Caste, who were included as a basic thanks for their service Each caste was successively less powerful and given less rights than the caste above it, but was therefore more powerful than the one below it. Within castes all members were intended to be equal; however, informal divisions often created a species who spoke for the rest of the caste or was generally accepted to be its leaders, most importantly the elasmi for the Intelligentsia. The castes proliferated every single inch of Ammonite society. Discrimination along caste lines was not just allowed but generally accepted and legally permitted for all sorts of jobs, activities, and rights. Only certain castes were allowed leadership positions in the military, or to hold any public office, or to be a member of the Architeuthian Cult rather than just an adherent. NOTE: Not every race the Hegemony met was ever inducted into the Castes system. Only those to be considered Ammonites were ever included. For more, see the Ammonite Hegemony and Ammonites pages. Organization *Grand Caste **Architeuths [Teuthida gigantis] {1853} *Silurian Caste **Cirrina [Polypodis prevalens] {1853} **Teuthida [Teuthida parva] {1853} **Krakens [Ingenium ingens] {1853} *Intelligentsia Caste **Elasmi [Plana ambitiosus] {2025} **Selachii [Squalus tenuis] {2025} **Nethropids [Crusta pia] {2105} **Eubrachs [Alveare dominator] {2106} *Citizenry Caste **Actinops [Mansuetus civis] {2029} **Antiarchs [Mansuetus cataphractos] {2032} **Malacosts [Abyssus persolus] {2105} **Chondriths [Squalus bellaces] {2104} **Anguils [Tenuis vicious] {2104} *Non-Representative Caste **Karani [Operuit miscentur] {2300} **Dromics [Alveare servum] {2300} **Lampets [Ossea subversor] {2300} **Bathynoms [Attachiatus karani] {2300} Rights Grand Caste The Grand Caste’s rights expanded past every other Caste. They had complete control over the entire Hegemony de jure and could dissolve the government, the Castes, and anything else it wanted. There were no limits on its powers or rights or abilities whatsoever: they were gods in the flesh made apparent to their followers. Silurian Caste The Silurian caste were the de facto leaders of the Ammonite Hegemony, and their rights extended to every part of government, generalships in the military, government-company CEOs, the Mouth of the Architeuth and various positions in the Architeuthian Cult. The Silurians had special rights such as an untouchability in most crimes aside from outright murder of an important official like another Silurian, prevention from various activities which might be harmful to their lives (such as suicidal assault squads relegated to Citizenry Caste grunts) or well-being (dangerous jobs such as mining operations). They were each given massive houses, immense feasts, and large amounts of money, in comparison to the moderate and meager earnings for the lower two castes, respectively. Intelligentsia Caste The Intelligentsia were under the Silurians in power and prestige, and as such were not given the higher positions in theocracy, government, bureaucracy (before the Intelligentsia Bureaucracy was formed), and corporations. In addition, they had only minor special rights, such as protection from small crimes, which did not extend into the Silurian Core (compared to the Silurians’ near-total immunity everywhere). They did, however, make up the more elite assault squads and the officer class, along with the lower flag officer ranks, managers in many of the companies, specialists in various jobs, etc. They were also the sources of the majority of the Hegemony’s problems: they were important enough to get some of what they wanted, not good enough to get what would placate them, powerful enough to rebel, smart enough to do it well, and independent enough to carry through with it. Citizenry Caste The citizenry caste were the basis of much of Ammonite society. They did the majority of the dangerous and often demeaning jobs that didn’t require expendable labor (as this was left to the Non-Representatives) and were not well repaid for it. Basic jobs such as factory workers, Marine grunts and Naval midshipmen, and entry-level workers were commonly distributed between the Citizenry. Nonetheless, they were given some limited rights. They had no exemptions from crimes and had to be tried in a fair court (though the dismissal of this fact was all too common), and were given at least basic tenants and daily food requirements in the majority of accounts, and were rarely too mistreated. As they were the most numerous of the Ammonites and by far did the most of the fighting (with the Non-Representatives) any rebellion amongst them was highly contagious and superbly dangerous. The Citizenry were hard to make too angry and easy to placate, not particularly independent and often fully integrated into the Hegemony. If the Citizenry began to rebel, something had gone very wrong and any efforts at any cost required to put into effect to put down these uprisings and level public order. Non-Representative Caste The Non-Representative Caste were so-called because of the fact they were included in the list of Ammonite races, but were given no authority to participate in the Hegemonic government whatsoever. They were treated somewhat as slaves, though not abused ones. They did every dangerous, expendable job, and were only slightly superior to animals in general. Most had some measure of knowledge what they were doing and why, but some were simply domesticated creatures. The Non-Representatives were given no rights or authorities, and their jobs were limited to the bottom of society. They had been included in 2300, with some having served the Hegemony for centuries previous, only as a sign of recognition of their achievements and thanks for their help, as well to placate fears that the Architeuths would attack if their words for a fifth caste were not followed. The Non-Representatives largely served as expendable ground assault troops and the basic workers on the Ammonites ships. They died in droves and were often unthanked for it, though they cared little. The ones that had any ability to think at all had been completely indoctrinated with the Architeuthian Cult’s message of servitude to their gods, and the Hegemony was seen as letting them proliferate past their independent limits. Non-Caste Species of the Hegemony The non-members of the Ammonite Hegemony were not even considered to be Ammonites and were only given the basic rights of taxation, minimal welfare, acknowledgement, and not being carelessly slaughtered by their Hegemonic overlords. The Architeuths had states that they had to create castes and assign races to them, but didn’t say every race encountered were guaranteed a space. This was especially insulting to these results, as many were just as intelligent as at least the Citizenry, though as mentioned previously eligibility wasn’t placed just on their intelligence. These species had not inducted primarily because they were either highly specialized (i.e. not capable of being widespread) and practically useless to the Hegemony, very contentious to Ammonite rule, or unequivocally refused to follow the Architeuthian Cult in almost whole (following its adoption as the state-sponsored and official religion of the Ammonites. As such, these species rarely participated in most anything Hegemony-related and generally ignored and were ignored by the Ammonites. They didn’t particularly take any part in the military, except as scattered auxiliary forces, and were rarely referenced by the Grand Diet in any form or way. This would create some problems during the Fracturings as the races could often only be brought back through military force because of their indignation overthe various offenses committed to them over the centuries. The Grand Diet Each race considered to be a part of the Ammonites themselves were given either representation or recognition in the Grand Diet, and each race was assigned a number of votes, each vote placed in the hands of a councilor elected by the races. Each race was assigned a number of votes based on their caste level, with the Silurians getting 48 each, the Intelligentsia 24, and the Citizenry 12, and the Non-Representatives and Grand 0. That was the final set number following the Third Fracturing, but previously the Silurians had received more votes (72) per race and everyone else less, ensuring Silurian rule. The total number of councilors was 300, with the Silurians only barely not holding a majority after the Third Fracturing (144 of 300), meaning the lesser races could theoretically overrule them, preventing legal Silurian totalitarianism. However, the Silurians were the deciders of tied votes. If they too tied, it would be passed down the castes and back up until a decisionn was reached, but more often than not the Silurians simply voted for whichever decision favored them more. The Grand Diet’s authority extended past any other institution and could do whatever it willed. The Grand Diet’s approval was required to be an officiated warlord pre-2560s reforms and control military troops, to start wars or conflicts, add new caste members, etc. Grand Diet Vote Breakdown *Grand Diet of Siluria/Jyrila Elected [[Councilors]] **Grand Caste (0 Councilors) ***0 Architeuths (Infinite Executive and Legislative Power) **Silurian Caste (144 Councilors) ***48 Cirrina ***48 Teuthida ***48 Krakens **Intelligentsia Caste (96 Councilors) ***24 Elasmi ***24 Selachii ***24 Nethropids ***24 Eubrachs **Citizenry Caste (60 Councilors) ***12 Actinops ***12 Antiarchs ***12 Malacosts ***12 Chondriths ***12 Anguils **Non-Representative Caste (0 Councilors) ***0 Karani ***0 Dromics ***0 Lampets ***0 Bathynoms Category:Castes System Category:Ammonites Category:Ammonite Hegemony Category:Alien Category:Sociopolitical Structure